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Spencer repeating rifle

The Spencer repeating rifle was a breech-loading manually operated lever action rifle. The design was completed by Christopher Spencer in 1860 and was a magazine-fed lever-operated bolt-action rifle. Like the Dreyse breech-loader, the firing system had to be independently primed, in this case a lever had to be cocked. It used copper rimfire cartridges stored in a removalable seven round tube magazine, enabling the rounds to be fired one after another, and which, when emptied could be exchanged for another. It was adopted by the United States and used during the civil war, with over 20,000 made. It marked the first adoption of a removable magazine-fed infantry rifle by any country.

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